Archived News:
This post offers a follow-up to indications that the version of Max Payne 2 released on Steam was a version previously cracked by a pirate group. The post has images reflecting comments from many users that the Steam version of the shooter sequel was silently updated at some point today, reporting the game now has a lower version number than before, and it no longer contains the logo of the warez group. Thanks Joao.
THQ announces details about the Ranger Pack, an upcoming DLC release for Metro 2033, the post-apocalyptic first-person shooter, saying this "will be released on both the Xbox LIVE Marketplace and Steam in the very near future, with pricing to be confirmed closer to release." Here's word: The Ranger Pack adds new weapons, new achievements and the deadly ‘Ranger Mode’ game rules. In standard Ranger Mode, ammo is dramatically reduced and all weapons cause more damage. Your foes are deadlier than ever – but so are you! ‘Ranger Hardcore’ adds an additional challenge as the HUD is totally removed, creating the most immersive Metro 2033 experience yet. Rise to the challenge with two new weapons – the Heavy Automatic Shotgun, and the Volt Driver, Miller’s signature gun. New achievements and 250 gamerscore points are also up for grabs.
Though it is not announced on Steam News, the Windows edition of Rocket Knight is now available through Valve's digital delivery service. Here's word on the platformer remake: "Sparkster makes his triumphant arrival on next-gen platforms with Rocket Knight, the newest chapter in the classic side-scrolling rocket action series. Our favorite opossum hero returns home after 15 years to find the kingdom of Zephyrus in shambles. Use your wits and Sparkster’s trusty rocket pack to dodge and defeat a menacing wolf army threatening the lives of his people."
Independent developer Longbow Games now offers online sales of Hegemony: Philip of Macedon, their new real-time strategy game based on the exploits of Alexander the Great's father, Philip II of Macedon. The DRM-free game is available on this page, where there's a trailer showing off gameplay along with a playable demo, offering a first-hand sample. This project is five years in the making, and represents a new direction for Longbow Digital Arts "as they explore new frontiers in the RTS genre." According to Longbow Games. CEO Jim McNally: "Philip of Macedon was a great leader and in many ways paved the way for Alexander the Great to conquer the world. We know fans of the genre and those that have an interest in how Greece was conquered will enjoy the game."
Publisher Iceberg Interactive and developer Zoetrope offer a new trailer for Darkness Within 2: The Dark Lineage on the official website for the upcoming H.P. Lovecraft-inspired horror sequel. Word is: "The eerie trailer shows off the dark feel of the game and the environments." News of the trailer is accompanied by the announcement that the game is now expected for release on May 28, two weeks later than previously planned, saying this is "due to longer delivery times from the plant."
Third Wire Productions now offers Strike Fighters 2 Expansion Pack 1, the first expansion pack for the Strike Fighters 2 series of air combat games. The expansion requires Strike Fighters 2 Israel, an it adds Mystere IVA, Meteor F.8, and P-51D Mustang as player-flyable aircraft, as well as "Operation Kadesh," a historical campaign set in the 1956 Suez Crisis, where the propeller fighters did battle with jet fighters. Word is: "join the Israeli Defense Force / Air Force and engage in struggle for survival over the desert!" Thanks Jim.
Another new patch is now automatically available for Team Fortress 2, announces Steam News. The listed changes follow. Continue here to read the full story.
A patch for Lock-On: Flaming Cliffs 2 is now available to update this aerial combat sequel to version 1.2.1. The new version has flight model changes, new anti-cheating measures, and a number of bug fixes. The new version is not multiplayer compatible with version 1.2, and they also warn that flight recordings from the release version 1.2 will not play back correctly under the new version. The patch is available on The Patches Scrolls.
Steam News announces another new automatic update is now available for Garry's Mod. The change list follows. Continue here to read the full story.
The Guild Wars 2 Website now features a "Dynamic Events Overview" where Lead Content Designer Colin Johanson outlines how quests will be generated in ArenaNet's upcoming MMORPG sequel. Colin describes two fundamental changes they are making: One is that you will not need quests explained to you, as you will be able to experience the situation firsthand (the example being a dragon attack where you see the dragon, rather than having it explained to you), and the other is the real consequences of these situations, offering an example of what happens if you fail to complete a quest properly. He explains the benefits of such an approach: By building a world where you see and hear the experiences, Guild Wars 2 will evolve the MMORPG genre by making a game world that feels truly alive. The core of this evolution is our event system, which allows the world to dynamically change based on actions and decisions made by the players. A single player decision can cascade across a zone, changing the direction of a chain of events until they dramatically alter the content played by players in a map.
Episode 2 of Mafia II video developer diary series is called "taking care of business," where the game's developers discuss the combat and cover systems in the 2K Czech's upcoming life-of-crime sequel. Topics include weapons, explosions, destructible environments, mêlée combat, automobiles, and more. The embedded version follows. Continue here to read the full story.
A new "making of" trailer for Split/Second shows off "air attack" and "air revenge," a couple of the airborne power-ups in Black Rock's upcoming racing game. The clip includes gameplay footage and developer narration to explain what's going on. Here's the embedded version. Continue here to read the full story.
- Bioshock 2 on Gamestop. Save 33%. Thanks TheWeaponeer.
- Rome: Total War Gold Edition on Direct2Drive. Save 75%.
- Supreme Commander 2 on Gamestop. Save 33%. Thanks TheWeaponeer.
- Tropico 3 - Absolute Power on Impulse. Save 10% on preorders.
Still on sale (previously reported)
Continue here to read the full story.
Thanks Ant and Mike Martinez.
A new trailer for Blur offers a tutorial on Bizarre Creations' upcoming racing game, presented by GoDaddy cheesecake model and professional race car driver Danica Patrick. For extra authenticity, Danica wears her fireproof racing suit and crash helmet (just kidding, she's wearing a cocktail dress), while introducing the game's power-ups and other features. Blur is scheduled for release on May 25 in the US and May 28 in Europe. The clip is embedded below. Continue here to read the full story.
The Steam Website announces the free release of Portal, celebrating the availability of a Mac compatible version with word that Valve's award-winning first-person puzzle game is available for free between now and May 24. Word is: Well guess what: For the first time ever, Portal is also available for the Mac.
"Capitol news! But the excellent puzzle adventure Portal won over 40 Game of the Year awards; Surely it must cost at least five or six hundred dollars."
You'd think that, especially since it actually won over 70 Game of the Year Awards. But, like we keep saying, Portal is free. Free on the Mac. Free on the PC. But only until May 24th. So you only have a few days to decide if your free copy of Portal is worth the price we're currently charging - which is you ever-so-slightly moving your index finger just barely enough to click the big red "download" button right there to the left.
The Steam Website now offers the promised Mac Steam client, along with a number of games that can be purchased and played on both Macs and Windows PCs. There is also an updated Windows Steam client, and the change list for that follows. Continue here to read the full story.
Some new updates for several games are now available on Steam. There's a Braid update adding Steam cloud support and fixing a bug. There's a Nation Red update adding two new zombie Barricade gameplay modes, a new Brawler zombie boss, and more. An Altitude update adds a new map among other changes, and finally, there's a new version 1.2.0.26 patch for Shattered Horizon with optimizations and bug fixes.
S2 Games announces the promised worldwide launch of Heroes of Newerth, the Defense of the Ancients-inspired strategy game for Windows, Linux, and Mac. The game is completely devoid of Bebe Neuwirth, but it does offer multiplayer strategy, as outlined here: "In Heroes of Newerth, two teams of up to five players each take on the role of special Hero units. With the assistance of AI-controlled armies, each team sets out with the sole objective of destroying the other team’s base. As a match progresses, players can earn experience and gold which can be used to upgrade skills or purchase items to make their character more powerful. The team-oriented design of HoN coupled with unprecedented social and community tools, in depth statistics, seamless Voice-Over-IP integration, and Clan Support allow for an incredibly deep, tactical team-based experience."
The Battlefield Blog announces plans to add a co-op Onslaught gameplay mode to Battlefield: Bad Company 2, offering a trailer showing off the mode. The update only mentions this coming to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, which has inspired numerous comments from perturbed PC players. The question of whether this is coming to the PC is addressed in this post by DICE Associate Producer Barrie "Bazajaytee" Tingle, who indicates that they may yet bring Onslaught to PCs, but they are struggling with how this would impact dedicated servers. Word is: The question of "What about PC?" is coming up in the comments quite a lot already so this is what the situation is.
No, we haven't signed away rights to console on this. The problem we have on PC is that all our servers are dedicated with providers. Changing a server from Conquest 32 players to Onslaught 4 players cuts out 28 player slots from the total ammount available. This could have a dramatic affect on the PC online environment if enough servers changed to Onslaught.
We aren't ruling out Onslaught on PC but at this time we are researching how to bring it to PC without affecting players who don't have Onslaught or their own server to run it on.
Battlefront.com now offers an updated playable demo for Empires of Steel, the turn-based wargame from Atomicboy Software. Word is: "This is the brand-new updated demo, with over 250 Items fixed or improved, including: Improved AI, adjustments to game-balance, new game-options, new victory conditions, improved map generator, hotkeys... and much more!"
Frazer Nash Communications has launched a The Heavy: The Game Website with details about the game in development at Team 6 Games Studio based on The Heavy, an upcoming film described as "a political crime thriller about family rivalry and betrayal." The game is due in Q3 of this year for Windows and Xbox 360, with the description including an odd note about "an unfolding storyline that will develop over the next few years." Word is: "In the game you will play Boots; a freelance money collector whose task is to find, collect and deliver cash and goods whilst driving around the streets of London. Boots is one of the best money collectors in town; his driving skills match his fists, fast and hard."
A trailer on the YouTube shows off Team Portress, a new mod that adds the Portal gun to Team Fortress 2, adding the wacky physics of Portal to the team-based gameplay of Team Fortress 2. The mod is currently running exclusively on a few of their servers, and the trailer includes the addresses of where to join.
An image on the Steam Users' Forums indicates the version of Max Payne 2 being distributed through Steam is actually a version cracked by a pirate group. The image shows an ASCII "Myth" logo, and the accompanying thread speculates this version was used to skip the game's CD check for the Steam edition. Thanks Morris.
The Walt Disney Company Reports Second Quarter Earnings, saying: "Diluted earnings per share (EPS) for the second quarter increased 45% to $0.48 from $0.33 in the prior-year quarter. EPS for the current and prior-year quarter include the items discussed in the following paragraph. Excluding these items, EPS increased 12% to $0.48 from $0.43 in the prior-year quarter." Here's word on their interactive division: "Interactive Media revenues for the quarter increased 20% to $155 million and operating results improved from a loss of $61 million in the prior-year quarter to a loss of $55 million in the current quarter. Improved operating results reflected higher Club Penguin subscription revenues and lower video game inventory costs, partially offset by higher internet product development and sales and marketing costs."
Palladium Books is suing Trion Worlds over the title of Rift: Planes of Telara, saying this infringes on the trademark for Rifts, their pen-and-paper RPG, reports Massively. Things are vague at the moment, as they say: "Not much is known about the lawsuit at this point other than 'it was filed'."
The Michael Pachter Interview on Eurogamer talks with the analyst about his job as an analyst for Wedbush Morgan Securities, and public perception of the statements he is famed for making about the game industry. When asked about his accuracy, he admits to being wrong frequently: "All the time. All the time. But who cares? I'm glad you asked that question. It's not my job to induce investors to do something, to compel them to action. That's not my job. My job is to make them better informed so they can make better-informed decisions. It would be naive of me and extremely arrogant of me to believe that I'm the only person that they would ever speak to and I'm the only source of data they would ever have."
I managed to strain my back doing something that seems like an obvious way to do so, except until I hurt myself I didn't even realize I did it. I was in the car and needed to get my wallet, so I braced my head against the headrest and arched my back to get to my back pocket when I felt the strain. As I say, I never was previously conscious of this maneuver, but now that I am, I'm surprised I haven't hurt myself this way before.
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